Dave's Bookshelf

The titles on the physical bookshelf tend to rotate. I budget about $1,000 per year for books. I give a lot of books to clients and colleagues. While the physical book is on someone else's bookshelf, I always have a copy here, with a simple way to put the same title on your shelf. You may not be able to borrow a book of the shelf, but we have made it easy for you to buy one. If you click on the Buy Now links - we earn a small commission on the sale. Thank you for checking out the shelf and adding to your collection through our website.

Dave's Top 10 Picks

Published in 1954, Peter Drucker’s The Practice of Management is the definitive book on the Art of Business Management. The book first set Drucker up as the foremost guru of Business Management. Even at 60+ years this book continues to define what managers are and what managers do.
I have several copies of the book. One is a old edition that a former boss gave to me, a boss....

The Goal is where Goldratt starts to unfold both the Theory of Constraints (without ever using the term) and the beginning of his Thinking Processes, again without putting a label on them. Presented as a novel, The Goal is a story of a Plant Manager’s struggle to rescue his job, the manufacturing plant that he runs, and his marriage. In an entertaining way, Goldratt presents a circa 1984 view of the inherent problems in American manufacturing and American corporation management. If you look under the story....

I followed some of the teachings in Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline for over 20 years before reading the book. Then, at the urging of an old and wise collaborator and fellow material handling consultant, I picked up the book.
I did not put it down until I finished reading it. Something that I learned growing up was to look for the....

4. Managing Flow
by Ikujiro Nonaka

The fourth book in a series about Creating Knowledge where Nonaka is the lead author. The book touches on the theory built by the three other books, but focuses on how organization harness the theory to create knowledge--or turn themselves into Knowledge Based Firms. Using examples, Nonaka et. al. illustrate wonderful examples of how global companies structure....

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If the term "cash flow" has always remained uncomfortably vague in your mind, Understanding Cash Flow will give you, quickly and simply, a firm grasp of this crucial index of a company's health and direction. It covers, in detail, the process, the terminology, and the internal and external players in the flow of cash through a company....

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6. Isn't It Obvious?
by Eli Goldratt

A breakthrough solution is exposed when some unexpected events force Caroline and Paul, a married couple working for their family's retail business, to make a few small changes in the way things are done. A solution that propels the family's regional chain of stores into a very profitable, rapidly growing, international enterprise. If there is a hint of Jonah, from THE GOAL, reappearing in this novel, it is Henry, the soon-to-retire president....

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7. The Haystack Syndrome
by Eli Goldratt

A "must" for every manager concerned with meeting the challenges of the 21st century. You'll see the differences between data and information in a new light, and understand precisely how misunderstanding those differences can affect the quality of your decision-making process. Starting with the structure of an organization, The Haystack Syndrome ends with a detailed description of the logic that must underpin the....

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8. Breaking the Code of Change
Edited by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

Organizational change may well be the most oft-repeated and widely embraced term in all of corporate America--but it is also the least understood. The proof is in the numbers: nearly two thirds of all change efforts fail, and they carry with them huge human and economic tolls. Lacking any overarching paradigm for change, executives of large, underperforming organizations have been left with little guidance in how to choose the strategies that....

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9. The 48 Laws of Power
by Robert Greene

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, The 48 Laws of Power is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also....

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10. Principle Centered Leadership
by Stephen R. Covey

My introduction to Stephen R. Covey was not The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. That was the book that put him on the self-help professional bestseller list. I got that book after reading a later Covey book, Principle Centered Leadership. The book does build on the structure created in 7 Habits, and you will benefit from reading and working with 7 Habits, but you don’t need to read that book first to get massive value...